Holly Holm steps into the octagon Saturday night in Las Vegas at UFC 196 as the UFC women’s Bantamweight champion. She shocked the world handling and knocking out Ronda Rousey last November to win the title in just her third UFC fight. In just one year Holly Holm jumped from a good ‘boxer’ to UFC world champion. She already had a strong kick-boxing background so the jump to mixed martial arts wasn’t as dramatic as some might have thought. She trains in one of the best camps, Jackson-Winkle john MMA, and as we all saw firsthand against Rousey, Holm is one of the top female athletes in the fight game. Her opponent Saturday is Miesha Tate. While Rousey blitzed through four straight challengers in the first round before her defeat to Holm, Tate did take Rousey into the third round in their most recent fight but lost for the second time via arm bar. Rousey might have been viewed as invincible but Tate could actually be a harder fight for Holm. Tate’s last four fights have all gone the distance; three unanimous and one split decision win. Holm has commented on how her first two UFC fights going the distance helped prepare her. Both fighters will have the conditioning needed for a fight that could go into the championship rounds (4th and 5th). Expect more of the same for Holm, control the distance with her striking, work in her powerful leg-kicks and avoid the ground if possible. It’s not that Holm can’t survive on the ground, which she did against Rousey getting out of a tough spot early in what was Rousey’s closest moment to winning. It’s as a fighter you want to make sure to play into your best strengths and that’s on the feet for Holm. Everyone will be watching to see if Holm can back up her Rousey KO but also to see if she’ll set up a Rousey rematch by defeating Tate. Also a guy named Conner McGregor is fighting in the main-event so that’s of interest to plenty of people.
